Publications & Testimony

Charles Hoffman, an assistant defender in the Office of the Illinois State Appellate Defender, recently wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times, marking a year since the death penalty was repealed in Illinois. Hoffman, who has argued more than 30 death penalty cases before the Illinois Supreme Court, says that repealing the death penalty was the right choice for the state: “The rightness of that decision is more clear than ever. Violent crime rates have not climbed. The public is no less safe.

A recent editorial in The Washington Post highlighted ongoing problems with Maryland’s death penalty despite legislation passed in 2009 meant to reform the system. According to the editorial, “the legislature’s reform fixed nothing; if anything, it codified a system even more arbitrary than the one it replaced. Now the nature of the evidence, rather than the barbarity of the crime, is the critical factor. So a murder conviction based on DNA evidence might result in a death sentence, but not a…

On March 5, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that California inmate Kenneth Clair cannot have his conviction overturned because he disagreed with the defense strategy used by his attorneys. Clair was represented by court-appointed attorneys because he could not afford to hire his own. The dispute arose after Clair complained his attorneys were ignoring evidence found by the prosecution that might prove his innocence. In 2005, he filed a petition to change federal public defenders. A…

The American Bar Association has released a report on Missouri’s capital punishment system after a two-year study of the state’s death penalty. The study was conducted by legal experts, including former and current judges, lawyers, and law professors. Douglas Copeland, a member of the assessment team and former president of the Missouri Bar, said “We identified substantial problems with the death penalty in Missouri. Our group unanimously agreed there are key reforms needed to ensure fairness…

In 2009, Maryland passed legislation that imposed new requirements for prosecutors seeking the death penalty. A recent report presented to the Maryland General Assembly by prominent attorneys, legal experts and law professors analyzes the 2009 law three years after its passage, highlighting its effects on the state’s death penalty system. According to the report, the 2009 law exacerbated a significant set of problems with the state’s death penalty, including its costs, arbitrariness, and impact…

An Op-Ed signed by eleven current and former Kentucky prosecutors calls for reforms to Kentucky’s death penalty, in light of the recent report issued by the American Bar Association. The ABA report was released in December after a two-year study of fairness and accuracy in capital cases in Kentucky. The prosecutors cite Kentucky’s “unacceptable” 60% error rate in death sentencing, saying “As a matter of basic fairness, we must pause to understand and reform the way capital punishment is…

The Georgia Supreme Court recently warned Gwinnett County officials that time to try the murder case of Khahn Dinh Phan is running out. Phan had petitioned the court to dismiss his charges due to the state’s inability to fund his defense and the violation of his right to a speedy trial. His case has not been brought to trial in nearly seven years, partly because of Georgia’s financially strained indigent defense system. Attorneys for Phan, who were hired by the Georgia Public Defender Standards…

A recent op-ed written by retired Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero Jr. highlights the state’s history of violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brady v. Maryland. According to this ruling, prosecutors are required to disclose evidence favorable to the defense, and that failure to do so violates the defendant’s right to due process. Calogero cited a report by the Innocence Project New Orleans which found that favorable evidence was withheld in 25% of the cases of…

A case testing new death penalty statutes in Maryland has recently concluded. The new statutes limited when the death penalty could be sought to cases of first degree murder in which there is DNA or other biological evidence linking the defendant to a murder, a video-taped confession by the defendant, or a video linking the defendant to the murder. Lee Edward Stephens, who was convicted of the fatal stabbing of Cpl. David McGuinn, was spared the death penalty, and sentenced to life without the…